Nobody said it would be easy, did they? Alas, we got what we came for in the end at Fir Park against a very dogged and determined Motherwell side tonight. Stevie Hammell must have been hurting form that ViaPlay League Cup result a few weeks ago and it sure showed in the defending of our hosts.
We started alright and managed to get the goal, but after that we began to give the ball away far too easily and slipped into a sluggishness that was reflected in our passing which was not it’s usual crisp, precise best. Abada was in from the start and the young man had a shocker on that right side of the front three. He attempted several crosses that were just lacklustre and some went miles over the bar and out.
But it wasn’t just him in fairness to the Israeli. O’Riley, Hatate and Taylor’s passing game was way off it tonight over the piece. It was mightily unfortunate that the Kyogo pass for Jota’s delightful goal was adjudged to be offside. I need to admit, I actually thought Kyogo’s goal looked more offside than Jota’s goal of the season contender.
However the most unbelievable shout tonight was the decision to award only a yellow card for the outrageous lunge by the boy Morris for the Steelmen who could have broken Carl Starfelt’s leg on that pitch. It’s beyond fiction now the decisions that are being made by Scottish officials. VAR has only made this issue more conflated and bizarre.
If Willie Collum missed it, fair enough, but that must have been looked at from various angles by David Dickinson who was in charge of the VAR technology tonight. Dickinson was the referee at the weekend and was involved in the Bernabei handball debacle. It’s safe to say his judgement hasn’t gotten any better since Saturday afternoon.
The Motherwell goal had been coming long before we made it two with a fantastically taken finish from Japanese World Cup star, Daizen Maeda. The urgency was on the wane and Well kept winning second balls and breaking our play up whilst catching us on the counter a few times. I was most aggravated at our dithering about with the ball at our defensive third for large periods of the game, which I believe contributed to our sluggish display.
So now we move on to Ross County at Celtic Park this coming weekend, which should be a routine victory (touch wood). That sets us up nicely for the break with theRangers chasing our tails once again. It’s a pity we couldn’t extend it to nine or even ten points in Lanarkshire but maybe we shouldn’t be greedy. We are in a comfortable position currently and tonight’s win was all about getting it over the line more than anything.
One down, one to go.
Paul Gillespie
By popular demand The Celtic Rising is now available on Kindle with all the hardback book’s brilliant photos included…https://t.co/ilA06hGLOW @Boola_vogue @cfcliamk96 @hailhailhistory @Celticcurio
— The Celtic Star Editor (@CelticStarMag) November 8, 2022
